Sensitivity analysis-based optimization: A case study with the MTBF of an aeronautical hydraulic pipeline system

The complex layout and harsh working environment often encountered in aeronautical hydraulic pipeline system (AHPS) result in the requirement of a large number of constraints that are mainly utilized to avoid the damage caused by engine vibration and wing flutter. As a result, improvement of the mean time between failures (MTBF) of the AHPS considering all constraint locations is a costly process, and the management of such large-scale design variables is also frustrating. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis-based optimization is proposed. Firstly, the MTBF of AHPS under stochastic vibration is first deduced according to the first-passage theory-based dynamic strength reliability formula, and the corresponding optimization model is established. Secondly, a multiplicative-dimensional reduction method (M-DRM) based global sensitivity analysis (GSA) method is employed to screen out the constraint location coordinates that have little or no impact on MTBF. Lastly, the MTBF optimization is performed by considering only the remaining significant location coordinates as the design variables. The results show that the proposed sensitivity analysis-based optimization strategy shows advantages in efficiency and effect.